Blog

“Daddy, Where Do Diamonds Come From?”

Most diamonds found on the earth’s surface were actually born well, well below’s the earth’s dusty crust (known as the “upper mantle,” like that shelf your parents displayed your “12th Place Gymnastics” trophy on). We’re talking roughly one hundred miles below, in a part of the earth that is very hot, and under intense pressure – like Adriana Lima in the Victoria’s Secret Angels Runway Show. Way down there, with the crushing force of tons of layers of rocks mingling with the inferno-esque heat, is where adorable baby diamonds are first born. Aww. This is of course scientific conjecture, as we don’t have the capability of actually sticking our heads down there and witnessing this.

All right, so that’s how they are spawned – but the question at hand is how do they find their way to the top? Is it instinct, like a newborn baby sea turtle making its way to the ocean? No, that’s just foolish, and you should be ashamed for thinking that. Diamonds have come up to the surface as the result of volcanic eruptions; ones that occurred so far down that we wouldn’t even have noticed them if we were alive. Indeed, these explosive actions took place a very long time ago (yes, in a place very far away). So as the eruptions speedily (from 20 to 30 miles an hour – enough to get a ticket in a school zone!) make their way to the surface, they carry with them volcanic matter which eventually cools down and, presto, “Kimberlites” are produced. These are hunks of rock that contain the shiny lil’ critters we affectionately refer to as “Ring Finger Candy,” or more commonly “diamonds.” The amazing thing is that if the diamonds didn’t cool off as fast as they did (a matter of hours upon reaching the relatively chilly surface), they would have reverted into graphite, the material found masquerading in pencils as lead. This would have been truly tragic, at least for people in the engagement ring business.

Okay, but what are the diamonds actually made of?

Unlike the old urban/SUB-urban legend that ‘diamonds are made up of tightly squeezed coal’ suggests, diamonds are actually made out of carbon. When carbon atoms go through the steamy roller coaster ride previously discussed, they fuse together and a grand crystallization commences. Each carbon atom bonds with four different carbon atoms (probably over beer and the big game/cosmos and shoes). These “covalent” bonds (ones where electrons are shared, as well as Facebook posts) are super strong, hence diamonds are super hard. You’re basically getting four bonds for the price of one (like when Barry Bonds was juicing). These husky bonds attract more of the same, and eventually, after billions of carbon atoms have united, the diamond crystal becomes substantial enough that when someone sees one in the dirt they can’t help but exclaim “Oh what a joyous day! I shall now treat myself to some honey dipped poppyseed scones!”

We at Diamond Lighthouse hope that this has been an informative tour of where your diamond comes from, and what it is made out of. More important, is what your diamond can become. The technical, scientific term for this is “cash,” or in some remote regions “moolah.” Contact us today to learn how you can sell your diamond jewelry (or just handfuls of diamond crystals) for so much money you’ll explode with glee, like a subterranean volcano of bliss.